The Style Conquest of Lewis & Bull

, by Jamal Bull

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, by Douglas Henry Lewis

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, by Douglas Henry Lewis

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You Should Be Listening...

All photography courtesy of Lewis & Bull

I have a deep, deep love for the music featured in fashion flicks. Whether it be a runway show, a fashion documentary, or an actual silver screen movie, my Shazam app is usually open on my phone and listening. Some of the beats are simply IN.SANE. I mean literally...insane. Just makes me want to get up and start flailing around like I'm in a 1990's NYC club that's blasting nothing but house music. Just grooving. When my fashion beats are in, I am totally in bliss. Here is bliss for me:

I remember this started around two years ago. I was at my grandma's house helping her with chores and just happened to have my Mac with me. At the time I was totally obsessed with the early work of Alexander McQueen (still obsessed with McQueen, probably will never not be obsessed with McQueen). Anyway, I was browsing his earlier collections on YouTube and I remember watching specifically his Autumn/Winter Ready-to-Wear 1997 collection, "It's a Jungle Out There." The cutting edge of his clothing and the vibrations of the music together made an energy that was so outrageous. After that, I became hooked. Probably 75% of my iTunes library is music from runway shows, documentaries, or soundtracks from films. It's gotten out of hand. Please be sure to watch the collection below.

Last year around this time, J. Bull and I rented the movie "Dior and I," a fashion documentary that takes a look into the tenure of Raf Simons role as Creative Director for the luxury fashion house, Christian Dior. The film is fantastic. It's filled with a real look into the House of Dior. For anyone who is somewhat interested in the world of Haute Couture, it is a must see. The thing that really drew me in was the music. I had never heard anything like it, it was so cutting edge. I immediately found the playlist and added it to my Soundcloud. I have included the playlist below and a link to my very own SoundCloud profile so that you too, can get your life.

Picture this: I'm on my way to class, dressed head to toe in my best outfit, head held high, earbuds pumping beats in my ears, imagining myself walking down a John Galliano runway. Speaking of John Galliano...this documentary right here? Everything. Take a look and listen for the beats.

I can't get enough. Music & Fashion moves me forward and keeps me lifted. No-one can stop me when the two are merged. Jamal will tell you the exact same thing.

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, by Douglas Henry Lewis

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NYFWM Spring/Summer 2017

Out of numerous collections that showed all across New York City from July 11th through the 14th, there were five stand-out brands who most caught my attention among everyone else. These brands are Cadet, Timo Weiland, Ovadia & Sons, John Varvatos, and Linder. Although I was not able to see the collections in person I still clocked into the excitement of all of the menswear presentations through social media. Platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and the ultimate online style destination, Vogue helped me get through the week without having an anxiety attack. Here are my thoughts...

I thought Cadet did a really good job of reinventing how men wear linen. The brand showed a variety of pieces in linen in an amazing assortment of muted tones that can be worn while navigating through a scorching city. I personally LOVED the jumpsuits best because they are so easy to throw on with a great pair of sandals and you are on your way. My favorite is the gray one on the far right. In the words of Rachel Zoe, I DIE.

Timo Weiland definitely caught my eye this season with the shoes, bold colors, and prints. The two shoes shown above will definitely be my footwear staples next summer. A simple, black, derby shoe for business and a sturdy, leather, sandal for fun. You may not know this about me but I am obsessed with chinos and if I could, I would have one in every color. Weiland showed the coolest blue tones in their chinos and paired them with these awesome zip-down shirts, button-down shirts with military-pockets, as well as V-neck sweaters and 1950's-looking cardigans and short-sleeved shirts. Obsessed.

Ovadia & Sons really seemed to capture the essence of what I call "bad boy meets chic." Anyone who knows me knows I love a leopard print. That leopard print fur coat in my closet would allow me to sleep so well at night. Another favorite is the black, eighteenth century-inspired bomber jacket. I feel like Beyoncé should have this in her closet. Who knows? I do know that the brand really showed some edgy yet sophisticated jackets in this collection. All of which could be worn for a night out on the town.

John Varvatos was another designer that gave a fresh take on linen with his suits. The pieces were in smooth, neutral colors and I simply NEED every single one that walked down the runway. Every look was styled to perfection paired with the slick boots and colorful neckties. *Side Note: I am obsessed with scarves. They are simply Terrific. This collection simply reiterated that you can wear them all year-round with no problem. Varvatos never fails to reinvent his signature, rock-superstar look in every one of his collections and keep it fresh and modern. Thanks to him, I must have a plethora of linen suits in my wardrobe for next summer. It's a must.

All photography courtesy of Vogue.com

Linder is a relatively new brand on the menswear scene and really caught my eye this season with its choice of shapes, fabrics, and styling. First off, I LOVED what he did with his denim. The wide-legged, studded jeans took me back to my "emo" days of dressing in middle school. (*Who knows why I dressed emo, but let's just leave it in the past.) It looks totally modern and I would definitely wear it with some kick-ass Acne ankle boots and a crisp white shirt. The oversized, natural denim jacket on the far right is also totally dramatic and I am obsessed with it. The entire collection was filled with playful pieces like that and challenged me to up my *risk game severely.

That's about it for my (NYFWM S/S 17) Review.

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, by Douglas Henry Lewis

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, by Douglas Henry Lewis

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, by Jamal Bull

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The Clean Slate

Lewis & Bull would like to introduce our readers to [The Clean Slate] an entity that is sure to become legendary in the near future. The Clean Slate is a rising, modern streetwear brand that every young style enthusiast should have in his or her closet.

The Clean Slate has produced apparel that has been worn by the likes of:

Wale,

Big Sean,

PlayBoi Carti,

Uncle Boof,

Big Krit,

Waka Flocka,

and ILoveMakonnen.

Earlier in the month of May, L&B sat down and talked with The Clean Slate Co-Founders Jonathan T. Mclean Jr., Jeffrey D. Lockhart, and DJ Pauly Guwop to discuss the brand. Below is the full interview between Lewis and Bull and The Clean Slate.

L&B: When was The Clean Slate established?

TCS: 2012, we just celebrated 4 years last week.

L&B: What was your vision for The Clean Slate when you first started?

TCS: Honestly, there was no vision for it, we were in high school. High School was about to end, Jon was about to start a site. Before he started it I hit him up and said “You should let me go half on the blog and I’ll write about music and you write about sneakers and clothes.” It just started off with us talking about things that we like. From a writing aspect, I guess it was just relatable to people at the time. It was something that Charlotte didn’t have and we were capturing Charlotte culture and culture all around the world. It was something that our city needed at the moment, and it just became what it became.

L&B: We recently heard that Juelz Santana recently contacted you guys and put in an order for one of your shirts. Tell us about that experience.

TCS: From my perspective, it was crazy. I grew up listening to him and just the fact that he was showing love and he wasn’t trying to sue us was surreal. It was just love and we actually got to talk to him and that was just surreal. It was a crazy moment. Clean had just walked in and said “We about to get Juelz on the phone.” After he followed me on instagram and left a comment we just called him and just chopped it up. It was five minutes on the dot. But that was some surreal five minutes.

L&B: The first shirt you all sold was the Gucci Mane shirt right?

Clean: The cold tee. It started off, I think we got 15 of them.

DJ Pauly Guwop: “Real out the trunk with it. I remember that most of them, Clean & Jeff were just hitting them off on campus. Real out the car with it. I took like 3 or 4 of em, brought them over to my campus at UNCG.”

Clean: Those out the trunk days, thats when it was real fun and before things got really stressful. Now stuff just be stressful. But it’s good stress. Shoutout Gucci Mane.

L&B: The idea behind the t-shirt how did they come about?

Clean: We always wanted to design clothes, and back when we were in the blog game we always said man, They don’t want us to design clothes because it’s like, we’ll kill that. And we knew that from the start. We knew that we saw something that other people didn’t. We used to sit in Crosby, back when The Clean Slate was a blog it stopped being a blog and The Clean Slate sat for like months, because we didn’t know what we were gonna do next. We got tired of writing, and we were going through a transition period. We didn’t want to do the blog any more and we wanted to offer more so everyday we used to sit in Crosby hall at the end of class for hours in the lobby just chopping it up, figuring out What are we gonna do next? Then one day I remember we were just like, let’s design something.

Jeff: I remember I was having ideas and I was taking them to people and they were putting them on the back burner and I decided to start my own thing.

DJ: He was tired of having to go through other people.

Clean: We just had to take matters into our own hands in order to make things pop like we wanted them to.

L&B: How many designs do you have right now in total and how many have you all sold so far?

Clean: We have seven to eight total at the moment. The shirt we’re about to release next, the Basquiat shirt. A lot of our shirts stem from other designs that we’ve done and we might not release it right away. But we might come back two three months down the line and we have an idea and we’re like, let’s flip this and then things just work out for a new design.

DJ: It’s mad ideas just sitting in Jeff’s notebook.

Clean: Ideas get scrapped everyday at The Clean Slate. One week we could be working on this idea and we’ll go hard for it and then I might wake up Sunday morning like, I thought about this, and this idea kills last weeks idea so then we decide that we’ll run with this. Then another week we’ll find another idea that kills both of those ideas and then we’ll go with this. So relatively speaking, the work ethic at The Clean Slate is organic but it still gets done.

L&B: There are so many different streetwear brands around A&T. What have you done to stand out from the pack?

Jeff: The front of the shirts were really hood, and the back was very artsy. People were wearing it around the cafe and people thought somebody actually died in our family. We wanted to give off that homemade, somebody in the neighborhood just died, so we’re about to get some t-shirts printed, vibe.

Clean: Just be original. The whole time, we’re some fresh guys, so what we design is going to be fresh. That’s our aesthetic. We’re gonna design stuff that we want to wear and if you’re an influencer people are looking at you. They think, if these guys are rocking it then it’s fresh. So we just stayed true to ourselves and I think thats what did it. We’re not rushing anything and everything is natural. The Basquiat tee is natural. The conversation on the phone with Juelz Santana is natural.

L&B: Where do you see yourselves in the next three years?

DJ: Los Angeles, California or New York.

Clean: I’m about to go to New York in two weeks so I see myself three years from now, I should still be in New York working, producing.

DJ: Personally, I don’t think that it’s helpful for The Clean Slate to remain in North Carolina anymore. I feel like it’s a stunt on our growth. So I feel like all three of us especially, have taken steps to remove ourselves properly from this environment. Don’t get us wrong. We love the city and we got more love from Charlotte than you’ll ever believe but we feel like we really gotta leave here in order to do what we want back home so it’s time to dip. I want to experience new attainability. I want to experience a new scene with new resources and I think resources change a lot.

Overall the experience was surreal discussing this brand and the futures of the individual co-founders seeing that the producers are well on their way to the top. Both have had numerous internships within the fashion industry migrating to and from various parts of the country to hone in on their skills as modern tastemakers.

All photography courtesy of The Clean Slate

The brand produces a distinct graphic t-shirt design among other things and ultimately stands out from any other brand we've come in contact with. The Clean Slate (in our opinions) already blends in with the success of major forces in the sportswear market such as Supreme, Diamond Supply Co., and others. Mark our words, one day the brand will be worn by the masses and produced and sold worldwide throughout a variety of retailers. All Clean Slate Merchandise can be bought at www.thecleanslate704.bigcartel.com. Do not hesitate to check them out.

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, by Douglas Henry Lewis

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Olivier Rousteing x Nike Lab

Balmain's creative director Oliver Rousteing collaborates with NikeLab to create an athletic line that will release June 2, 2016. This is not his first collaboration, in November 2015 he joined forces with H&M releasing clothes and accessories that had athletic aesthetics and inspiration. That collection sold out in minutes, even I tried to grab a piece or two and FAILED. The Parisian designer does best when it comes to embroidered dresses and the embellishments are perfect. Wondering what he will create with NikeLab can keep the mind wondering.

NikeLab is a lab that deals with creating new footwear and clothes for athletic endeavors like track and field, golf, and basketball. The lab consists of equipment that includes mannequins constructed of copper, motion capture rooms, environmental chambers, and much more. The lab's facilities are also known as the Kitchen and the Oven. That was just a quick spill of NikeLab for the curious ones.

"Fashion is usually about the catwalk and the glamour, but with Nike it was about performance and the athletes. What I love about this collection is that we are integrating the iconic style of football into sport style.” -- Olivier Rousteing

Football Nouveau is the name of the collaboration, but this will be an ongoing collaborative series that will have upcoming designers including Louis Vuitton's Kim Jones and Undercover's Jun Takahashi. The clothes will consist of sweatpants, shirts, and one particularly Balmain mixed Swoosh jacket called the NikeLab N98. "Black is timeless, and gold is for victory." - OR

Try working out in this fusion of high design and athletic appeal filled with black&gold spandex as a sweatsuit. OR's collection will feature four different sneakers you can pair up with any sport look in your wardrobe or with some chinos and a blazer on the weekend.You definitely will be at ease on the treadmill featuring OR x NikeLab,

All photography courtesy of Nike News

See the making of it all here.

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, by Jamal Bull

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Look 002*

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, by Jamal Bull

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5 Spring/Summer Essentials for Men

At the start of each season, it seems as if gentlemen everywhere are stumped as to what they should be wearing to stay on top of the current trends while remaining true to the essence of their own styles. Staying true to one’s personal style while maneuvering from season to season with all of the new incoming trends can be very challenging. To prepare our readers for the upcoming spring/summer season, L & B has compiled a list of essentials that every stylish young fellow should incorporate into his closet to beat the heat while managing to look fresh at the same time.

1. Chic, Quality Sunglasses

Whether it's sunny outside or crazy indoors, sunglasses are always chic and fundamental for blocking the sun (or people) out. Be sure to find the right pair that fits your face and invest in timeless brands like Ray-Ban, Persol, or Oliver Peoples. Warby Parker also sells quality sunglasses for a college student's budget.

2. A Crisp, White Oxford Shirt

It seems like the white oxford shirt has served as a wardrobe staple ever since the beginning of time. You can never go wrong with this piece in your closet. They are especially great in the summertime because they're refreshing, adaptable and a versatile color to wear whether it's short or long sleeved.

3. An Assortment of Linen Trousers

During the spring and summer, one of my favorite pieces consists of a good pair of linen trousers. Linen is a quality fabric that is soft to the skin and breathable to the wearer. Just about any fast fashion retailer has them at an affordable price. (i.e. Zara, ASOS, H&M, & Uniqlo)

4. Easy, Light Cologne

One thing that I can never leave the house without is a spritz of my best cologne to top everything off. My personal favorite is Dior Homme "Eau for Men." J. Bull's favorite is YSL's "L'Homme." Every man's signature varies but just make sure it's not too heavy and compliments your body well.

5. Comfy, Low Top Sneakers

All photography courtesy of Lewis & Bull

The last essential for the summer that finalizes the list is a white pair of comfortable low top sneakers. My favorites at the moment are the classic Adidas Stan Smith's with the green backs. They're very versatile, relatively easy to slip on and off when I'm in a rush and are altogether timeless.

During the buying process, be sure to incorporate fit, texture, and comfortability when making a final selection. These elements can make or break a new addition to your closet. Be sure to consider our five suggestions when shopping for new pieces for the upcoming season. Share with us below what are your essentials for the Spring and the Summer!

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You Should Be Listening...

NYFWM Spring/Summer 2017

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The Clean Slate

Olivier Rousteing x Nike Lab

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5 Spring/Summer Essentials for Men

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